Who the f*** is Micah Kogo?

Maybe because Micah Kogo is on drugs!

This is exactly the problem. For too long the IAAF has focused on Africa, shooting themselves in the foot and flooding the sport with a bunch of no names nobody cares about . The sport is so wrong - it pays ( well the meets do) for these athletes to come to Europe and then they f*** off back to wherever when they are done. One way traffic. Really need to get rid of Diack - nothing can be worse than him.

They ran the times and earned the money, right? Should the Amwrican sprinters who dominate in Europe be "forced" into some odd arrangement?

Sorry about the typo

> It's a shame to *greet* such an extraordinary performance in such a negative way

I'm not suggesting any sort of restriction or any sort of solution. I don't blame the Africans at all, they are doing what is best for them and working incredibly hard to do it. Just depressed that the end result is that interest is sliding away.

I agree that the dominance of African athletes is a problem in our sport.

However, you can't turn the clock back. We know the Africans exist, we know they are superior athletes. Nobody would therefore be interested in watching a bunch of US/European athletes battling out a 28 min 10k race anymore either. Any long distance track or road race without an African athlete is viewed by spectators as 2nd class.

Hopefully this is just the start of a great career for Micah Kogo and he will be a household name for years to come.

It's amazing that a reasonably well thought-out and genuine post by the original poster is greeted by your rubbish:

1. IAAF focuses on the fastest athletes NOT African athletes. Do you see the IAAF packing the sprints with Kenyans? No? That's because they are already packed with Americans (or are you equally racist across all nationalities?).

2. Who says that they are a bunch of no names that nobody cares about? Africans care, IAAF cares, I care, and clearly the OP would care if he had access to more interviews, etc. with these guys.

3. Should these athletes NOT be paid... or were you simply suggesting that after they win their money here we should invite them all to become US/EU citizens? I am should that some of them would be delighted.

Anyway, I have no animosity to you so here is a solution. When you watch track on television try tuning the color really dark so that only the white athletes show up. ALTERNATIVELY, just watch US track coverage. That is where the real BIAS is and you will only see the American athletes (until such time as they are getting lapped when you will briefly have to see the Africans).

Fact is - there is zero african media, sponsors etc etc. This is where the dollars that keep the sport alive come from. If you want to watch 15 Africans watch it in Africa. Not a racisr comment but apart from a few of the athletes in the race noone could care about the rest. Meeting directors decise who they invite, but continue to screw themselves over . Time will tell , meets are dying all the time.

So what your suggesting is that Africans have less of a right to compete than athletes because they come from a poorer country? Think about that for a moment and realise how absurd it sounds. What would be next - not letting Kenyan or Ethiopian athletes into distance races at olympics or world champs because its not exciting as they always win? Its called the IAAF - INTERNATIONAL Association of Athletics Federations. What your confising is an Americans point of view with someone elses. So what if an American dosent know who Micah Kogo is?! I'm sure plenty of Kenyans do and there would be many others who would be eager to watch his progress.

Thank you 'not geb'.... A sensible response to a string of bigoted, dumb assed posts by a bunch of sub-literate, closed-minded no-hopers... I hate generalising, but so many of you yanks want to have your cake and eat it.... your attitude stinks... but you know what...screw you, because nobody else on the planet really gives a damn!

I do agree with the original poster to some extent. I was going to say after the European champs just how much more entertaining and exiting i thought it was without the Africans i.e the Shock German victory in the 10k or the Swiss lad pushing Baldini right to the end in the Marathon, these would not have been possible with the Africans running. However regardless of this banning Africans from all distance races for being too good is not an option.

Would it be racist or non pc to have some of the european track meets distance races european runners only? I dont no but what i do no is that i no for more Swiss people would turn up in Zurich to watch a swiss athlete run 28 mins than an African run 26 mins and the same with belgians in Brussels.

As for Micah Kogo i do know who he is he lives in Teddington and is housemates with our European 5k silver medalist Mo Farah but then that all i know about him.

I was under the impression that these big meets in Europe sell out everytime anyway? Also, perhaps the problem is that the Americans need to either:

a. Get faster, or

b. Become more educated about the BEST runners in the sport so that they CAN care when some "unknown" athlete wins.

The sport is professional and an "equal-opportunity employer." If you're the fastest, you win, regardless of where you came from or what you look like. I'm for that 100%. In truth, "no names" have been winning major races on the European circuit for a long time. Most don't have long careers, but a few do. That's completely in the nature of the sport. I distinctly recall being slightly unhappy when a "no-name" Ethiopian, with a name I couldn't pronounce, won a couple big medals in 1993. Whatever happened to that guy? I think his name was Gebre-Selassie or something forgettable like that...

That said, I pay no attention to the US road racing scene because it's primarily the "B" and "C" level "no-names." Black, white, brown, or green, I take the "A" level seriously, but beyond that, I just don't care.

To answer your original question, Micah Kogo is one of the 10 fastest runners ever over 10000m. Deal with it.

The nice thing about track is that all of the politics ultimately fall by the wayside when the gun goes off. It's bizarre that so many people get upset by WHO ran 26:35 rather than enjoying an awesome 3-way battle in the fastest 10000 of the year. Who is complaining that Americans ran the 4 fastest 200m times in the same meet? Just another bunch of interchangeable US sprinters, by your logic, instead of an awesome performance by Tyson Gay (who was a relative unknown until a couple of years ago).

Everyone who emerges at the top of world class has his/her breakout race somewhere along the line. A few years ago people were wondering "who is this Kenenisa Bekele guy"? Now they're wondering about Kogo. That's a good thing.

Immigrant wrote:

Become more educated about the BEST runners in the sport so that they CAN care when some "unknown" athlete wins.

You say "unknown" as if those with an interest outside of the US scene would know who this guy is, but I'm sure even in Kenya very few people have heard of him. The only thing he's done of note is finish 2nd at Hengelo this year, other than that he's the 10th ranked Kenyan this year at 5k. Have you heard of Ibrahim Jeilan Gashu? He beat Kogo at Hengelo. How about Bernard Kiprop Kipyego or Essa Ismail Rashed? They finished within 5 seconds of him in the same race. For me to be truly interested in a race I need to care which of these guys wins, but how can I if I've never heard of them? It's not a case of them being African or American (I'm neither), it's that I don't known anything about them. When Geb came along I'd seen him win the double at the world juniors so he wasn't a complete unknown.

There's a piece here mentioning that he lives with Farah as another poster mentioned.

No...you are the one who doesn't care to see 15 Africans. Lots of other people do...just as lots of white people go to see NBA and NFL games even though they see few people like themselves on the court or field. These people pay absurd amounts of money tickets because they appreciate highly-trained athletes doing what they do best.

If I'm watching distance running I hope and expect to see a bunch of Africans going at it...because they're the best...who gives a hell what their names are and what they like to do in their spare times? If there are other people who belong in the race, great! But, I don't want to see some guy who runs 30 minutes in the field because the meet is being held in his town. I understand why they put him in there, but I'm not going to pay attention to him except to count how many times he gets lapped.

Do you get tired of a never ending stream of Europeans and Americans at the Tour De France, a never-ending stream of Russian women on the tennis tour, a never ending stream of Australian/ swimmers? How about throwing events? Does it bother you that Eastern Europeans seem to dominate this area at the Olympics?

Hey..don't hate on Micah Kogo because guys you like can't hang with him. I think it's great that in all likelihood Micah and his family have had their lives transformed through his hard work. He's running for his life and the lives of his loved ones...what's not to love about that?

I understand what you mean but by African standards Micah Kogo was pretty unknown before his incredible performance yesterday. He PRed in the 10k by 40 seconds. Before then he was a 27:15, 13 min guy, times which didn't distinguish him from the hoards of fast East African runners. Drugs or no drugs he delivered one hell of an impressive performance.

sc42 wrote:

It's bizarre that so many people get upset by WHO ran 26:35 rather than enjoying an awesome 3-way battle in the fastest 10000 of the year. Who is complaining that Americans ran the 4 fastest 200m times in the same meet? Just another bunch of interchangeable US sprinters, by your logic, instead of an awesome performance by Tyson Gay (who was a relative unknown until a couple of years ago).

No, it's not at all bizarre that people care about who ran a certain time. It's all about the who.

I actually did think exactly the same think when Xavier Carter ran his super fast 200 metres ealier this year as I'd never heard of him either. Sounds like some people who are more familiar with that scene had though.

This is not about stopping anyone running in WC or OG etc. It is just about restricting the numbers a little bit and having a balanced field . Europe pays the bills .No one is trying to do anything stupid - just doesn't make sense to have 15 africans in a race that takes place in Europe. The US wouldn't put up with it, and it is fine if it is in Africa. Just a point of view.

Death of Athletics wrote:

Yeah, bet you knew that off the top of your head and didn't look it up. Are you equally well versed in the form of Martin Irungu Mathathi and Edwin Cheruiyot Soi? Both had better 10k marks this year than Kogo prior to yesterday.

I had to look up the times but not the places. KOGO ran in the US. It was on TV. He won Heusden, the same race that Goucher ran 13:10.00. Do you not pay attention, or are you just oblivious to what's going on in our sport?

Soi won Lausanne. He was second to Bekele in Paris. Mathathi has been around for awhile, training in Japan.

Be proud of your ignorance, it will serve you well making french fries for the man.